Tips to Memorizing Scripture with Tom Meyer the Bible Memory Man

[00:00:00] thanks for being here this evening my name is Kevin Conover and we are broadcasting down here in Southern California on our local radio station

[00:00:07] kprz 12 10 a.m our local christian radio station we’re also on FM 106.1 in North

[00:00:13] County and then of course we’re all over the uh internet uh broadcasting on social media and so forth and uh we’ve

[00:00:21] got a great show coming up here this evening and a little bit about our guest tonight his name’s uh Professor Tom

[00:00:27] Meyer the Bible memory man he’s also a professor at Shasta Bible College he’s been a guest all over the place on all

[00:00:34] kinds of topics including archeology end times prophecy Bible memorization he’s been on Fox News the Jerusalem Post

[00:00:40] Daily Express CBN K-LOVE Moody Radio and a whole bunch of other places and

[00:00:45] um you can actually book to speak him um if if this is something you’re interested in I think it’s pretty

[00:00:50] incredible um what he does but he he takes what he’s memorized from the word of God and

[00:00:56] gives a dramatic presentation um in his in his speaking and so really

[00:01:03] really cool I hope you’re inspired this evening to be able to memorize more scripture as

[00:01:08] a challenge for a lot of people I know for a lot of my students they’re just whining they get up to you know three

[00:01:14] verses four verses five verses they’re just complaining about how hard it is and they don’t have the genetics for it

[00:01:20] or whatever else the case is but uh hopefully we can overcome some of those obstacles this evening Tom thanks a lot

[00:01:25] for being on the program today thanks for having me absolutely so um a

[00:01:31] little bit of I’m curious about your background you know I when I was in college I uh was trying to memorize

[00:01:36] scripture and a friend of mine he gave me this book um I don’t know if you can see it here

[00:01:42] uh Ron Ron Hood yeah you know him how to successfully memorize and review

[00:01:48] scripture a while back I was looking for this book and I was like man it’s out of print I can’t find it but um that’s what

[00:01:53] started me to to memorizing scripture and I was like wow okay there’s a there’s a way you can do this and get it

[00:01:59] done and you know um so so how do you know uh Ron Hood

[00:02:05] I don’t know Robin Hood I heard him when I saw the book but I’ve never met him oh you’ve never met him oh okay no no so so

[00:02:13] tell us your background yeah what how did you how did you come to start memorizing scripture like you do well to answer your question I grew up

[00:02:21] in a in a believing home and I went to church on Sundays and you know like most

[00:02:27] kids I was pretty bored in church church should be the highlight of the week you know the one hour out of the 168 that

[00:02:33] really is some of the Apex is Zenith over a week yeah I was bored and that’s

[00:02:39] not good you know so I but instead to redeem the time I would just read the most famous they’re not stories but

[00:02:46] don’t give us a story the most famous accounts in the history of the world and I thought to myself well I can’t I know

[00:02:52] we need verse by verse teaching okay and I know we need topical sermons and Etc but why can’t every once in a while we

[00:02:58] just hear the Oracles of the Living God on a Sunday morning spoken from heart and the power of the Holy Spirit

[00:03:04] so to make a long story short I was 25 I didn’t have essentially any Scripture

[00:03:10] memorized and I went off to do my undergrad in Northern California and on the way the pastor I don’t know why he

[00:03:16] waited till then but he’s like well you know why don’t you memorize part of the sermon on your mom the sermon on the mat and the long car ride out to California

[00:03:22] from Illinois I was like okay and then you know once I did that and internalized it I really began to

[00:03:28] understand the the value that comes with not having it on your phone or on yourself but in your heart and one thing

[00:03:34] that led to another to another and I went off under my undergrads uh went off to Israel to Jerusalem I did two

[00:03:41] master’s degrees in the holy land and that’s where I really kind of that’s the big league so to speak of memorizing

[00:03:46] even to this day and took what I learned there really honed in the skill set and

[00:03:52] came back to the States and um the rest is his story as they say

[00:03:57] yeah so how many books of the Bible have you memorized

[00:04:03] I’ve never counted because when David counted the people he got in big trouble you know yeah but I mean I know I could

[00:04:10] go for like 15 hours straight if I have to or something like that but I think I

[00:04:15] know like 20 bucks or so yeah the first 10 years I just memorized the the what

[00:04:21] we call Old Testament or what thing in Israel they would call the Tanakh

[00:04:27] and then uh the last 10 years I memorized what we would call the New

[00:04:32] Testament and what they call there the Shah so um I’m not Jewish by the way but I just have a and I’m not one of these

[00:04:39] people who’s like really into Messianic roots or anything like that but um but living there in the Holy Land right

[00:04:46] it really it was the greatest thing I could ever do for my faith it really was and just feel like rubbed shoulders with

[00:04:51] people who who memorize and and be able to have access to sources that I don’t

[00:04:57] have here and Etc and that like ancient libraries there which is awesome well that’s a cool plug for making a

[00:05:03] trip to the Holy Land um so when you say that when you say hey that was one of the greatest things for my faith

[00:05:09] um is it just being able to see the actual places where these you know where these events happened is that what that

[00:05:15] uh you know makes your trust in the Lord stronger is that what you’re talking about that’s a huge part of it is we’re

[00:05:22] just disconnected in a certain degree from the original audience I mean 2 000 years ago from the New Testament up to

[00:05:28] 30 thousands you know 3 400 years ago for The Exodus and it’s like you know we

[00:05:36] live on the other side of the world different language different culture different mannerisms different form of government and we there’s just you know

[00:05:42] it’s Paul and Silas and Timothy unto the Church of the Thessalonians not unto First Baptist Church in Cincinnati yeah

[00:05:49] you know so but going there and to be able to walk where Jesus walked into the landscape hasn’t changed the mountains

[00:05:56] are the same you know Etc and then just to be able to live in that world and it just breaks the time not the text is

[00:06:03] already alive I don’t like when people say that like you make the Bible come alive in Hebrews 4 12. you know but then

[00:06:09] the other side of the coin was being able to use my gifts of memorizing to what really enhanced my faith as well is

[00:06:15] being a missionary there and working with Jews for Jesus it’s Jews for Jesus I’m not a Jew I’m a gentile and so they

[00:06:23] made a a rare exception for me because it’s a long story but I I have a skill

[00:06:29] set and I knew the right people let’s not get ourselves and that’s what got me on to those teams to just saturate

[00:06:35] Israel with the gospel and it’s awesome because no matter where I am no matter what I’m doing I can talk to on

[00:06:41] the bus or Ace Hardware in Jerusalem and just drop Isaiah 53 on him and let’s talk about it wow that’s so cool yeah um

[00:06:49] you know it just this brings up a thought I had um the head of Jews for Jesus on the show quite a while ago I

[00:06:56] believe uh at the time is the founder but he passed away about

[00:07:03] ducky to go no no no no no uh or maybe he was just ahead of one of the areas

[00:07:09] um yeah dancer that’s why I love dancer he was the best man at my wedding oh no

[00:07:14] way that’s so funny yeah that guy is so nice man he he was he was funny too he was cracking me up we were going through

[00:07:20] all the uh uh laws that the the uh Jews you know keep uh from the Old Testament

[00:07:27] and he was showing how some of them are just crazy I I he told me for this was quite a while ago but he told me you

[00:07:32] can’t even push a button um in an elevator on the Sabbath in Israel because

[00:07:37] your nose you can’t pick your nose on the Sabbath oh no I haven’t heard that one yes because you might cut a hair

[00:07:44] and if you cut that’s work oh my gosh you know what this is though in all seriousness this is where Jesus was

[00:07:50] railing against the religious Elite during his time woman it’s the same thing that they’re keeping the traditions of men over the word of God

[00:07:56] and yeah that’s what it’s all about is the word what does is the word of God that’s where the power’s at yeah now

[00:08:02] this brings me uh a question I had for you um you know like you said it’s where

[00:08:08] people are embracing the traditions of men over um the heart of God and and um you know

[00:08:15] some people might say well you have this big focus on memorizing scripture is there a Temptation

[00:08:21] um you know that where the scriptures say uh knowledge puffs up but loves build builds up is there a temptation to

[00:08:28] memorize scripture just for the sake of memorized memorizing scripture versus

[00:08:34] um you know the heart of God well I can’t as you know I can’t speak for other people but for myself I don’t

[00:08:40] have that problem yeah it’s so hard for me to memorize it it’s so hard people think it’s easy it takes me an hour a

[00:08:46] day every day for a month maybe to memorize like a half a chapter or a chapter so I don’t get caught up in that

[00:08:52] but but having that it hidden in your heart I’ll tell you what it is one of the many benefits the knowledge that

[00:08:59] comes from it is one of the many benefits that come from the discipline yeah yeah yeah and it develops so many

[00:09:05] good habits too just the discipline of of uh study and and uh preparing yourself before the Lord setting your

[00:09:11] heart right and you know starting your day off right so I that’s another question you know a lot of people I think they hear about somebody who’s

[00:09:17] memorized this amount of scripture before and they think to themselves oh my gosh

[00:09:22] um you know I could never do something like that I could never come closer yes they could if I gave them a hundred dollars for every birthday memorized

[00:09:29] yeah there you go okay yeah so speak to speak to that point I mean for the person out there who’s

[00:09:34] saying hey no I couldn’t do this uh share with with us what you know um how do you overcome those doubts and

[00:09:41] and so forth well part and parcel of it is just you know we live in a world where we have it coming from without we

[00:09:47] live in a copy paste Facebook tweet file forget kind of world we don’t have to memorize anything yeah and we love it

[00:09:53] like when I was a kid you still had to memorize phone numbers yeah yeah I wouldn’t even have to do anything so and

[00:10:00] then plus we have such an abundance of Bibles we think it’ll never be taken away and all these kind of things and and so we think that we don’t have

[00:10:08] strong strong memories or strong minds but the the fact of the matter is we do

[00:10:13] God commands us to hide his word in our heart so we don’t sin against him this is not the option so he wouldn’t command

[00:10:19] you to do this if you didn’t have the capacity he knit you in your mother’s womb you have the ability to do it now

[00:10:26] all of us are at different levels and it’s like any other exercise in some regards the more you do it the stronger

[00:10:31] you get you know but like I hinted at earlier it’s hard for me too guys it

[00:10:36] takes me an hour every day maybe to do a chapter or half a chapter for a month but the blessings the benefits the

[00:10:43] dividends that come from hiding God’s word in your heart they really are innumerable so so go let’s go through

[00:10:48] that um if you if somebody were to say hey you know what are the top three benefits to memorizing scripture what

[00:10:54] would you say they are what is the what what are the biggest motivators besides the obligation as a Christian to be able to to do this and in anyway but

[00:11:02] um I might go a little over three but off the top of my head in no particular order of importance number one it

[00:11:08] informs you and when you hide God’s word in your heart it informs you and your kids and your grandkids who you are in the light of God’s word if you are told

[00:11:15] something long enough and loud enough you can have a tendency to believe it to believe that there’s nothing special

[00:11:20] about you you went from ooze to the zoo to you by a series of time a chance that we’re building that’s all nonsense it’s lies from the pit of Hell you’re made a

[00:11:26] little lower than Angels he’s crowned you with Glory and Honor he’s giving you dominion over the works of his hands is your what manner of love the father hath

[00:11:32] bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God and it’s the Son of God you have boldness and axes and confidence you approach him in prayer do

[00:11:39] you see how that change is a man thinks in his heart so is he yeah you think that way you’ll act that way it’s true

[00:11:44] having it hidden in your heart design your phone around yourself and provides you with words of comfort and times of

[00:11:49] need no matter where you are no matter what you’re doing you can like an apple of golden pitcher of silver the most

[00:11:56] beautiful precious thing that you can tell to someone in a time of need which includes yourself sometimes when you do

[00:12:01] Comfort ourselves let’s not kid ourselves okay is to speak that verse to speak that word because that’s where the

[00:12:08] power is at the power is not in the commentary the power is not in the four-point alliteration the power is not

[00:12:13] in the canned joke the power is not in the illustration the power is in the oracles the Oracles of the Living God

[00:12:19] and that’s to have that in your heart we’ll leave it at three like you said okay then third and finally having in

[00:12:25] your heart it provides you with your weapon of choice I think of the Lord tempted in the

[00:12:30] wilderness Matthew chapter four you know that account what does he do in response the fight to the Temptation he opens his

[00:12:36] mouth and he speaks the word of God Ephesians 6 soldier of God top to bottom everything we’re wearing chapter 6 10-18

[00:12:42] is defensive it’s all defensive brass play of righteousness Shield of Faith helmet of salvation belt of Truth

[00:12:48] Etc and your only weapon is the sword of the spirit which is the word of God and that word for word in Greek is Rima which means a thing’s spoken so it’s the

[00:12:55] power of the spoken word yeah that’s that’s awesome and um now

[00:13:01] you have four kids um and uh I know for that there’s a lot of

[00:13:06] homeschool families that are interested in this subject too so um and for those of you less uh listening my guest today

[00:13:12] is Tom Meyer if you’re more if you’re interested in what he’s sharing the biblememoryman.com you can check it out

[00:13:18] you can have him come speak um and um you’ve also written um the

[00:13:23] memorization Study Bible commentary not the Bible what’s that I said I wrote the comments and how to

[00:13:30] oh yeah yeah yes let’s be clear we don’t want to get anybody struck by lightning or anything fall down and get eaten by

[00:13:37] worms so um so tell us about that what what is the memorization uh Study Bible

[00:13:44] every Bible in the world is printed and formatted in such a way where it is not conducive to memorizing

[00:13:52] um when I lived in the Holy Land I discovered three tips on how to go about memorizing scripture we can get to those

[00:13:57] in a second but to answer your question I took those tips and those techniques I learned while studying in Jerusalem and

[00:14:02] Incorporated that into the format of the text and so the Bible is printed in such a

[00:14:08] way where it’s easy on the eye it’s printed in such a way where the and the if the conjunctions are lined up and

[00:14:15] sitting having this long verse it has no shape to it short pithy eight words are lost on each

[00:14:22] line instead of going for the whole stake you’re taking little bite size pieces that’s how the Ancients memorized

[00:14:28] and I use that to format the New Testament and then also in the appendix there’s I don’t know 60 100 tips on how

[00:14:37] the Saints memorize an Antiquity basically a history of memorization from the Jews and the Christians

[00:14:42] and then there’s some really interesting kind of factoids about the importance of memorization throughout the ages what

[00:14:48] did Luther say about it what did Calvin say about it what did Augustine say about it what when did we stop doing

[00:14:54] this when did this become something that nobody does but everyone ought to do

[00:15:01] that’s cool so um you know uh like you said before you

[00:15:07] said hey we’re we’re used to we think that we’re gonna have access to a Bible at any time and that’s what a lot of

[00:15:13] with what’s happening in education I’m a teacher and uh you’re a professor too and and uh you know people have access

[00:15:20] to the Bible on their phones and they think well I don’t really need to memorize it because I have instant

[00:15:26] access to it I just put my phone out of my pocket and I don’t I don’t need to do that

[00:15:31] um so uh and I know that you also have a digital app for the the phone do you do

[00:15:37] you recommend that people memorize directly out of a you know hard copy Bible or is it okay for memorizing on

[00:15:44] the on the you know phone as well what do you what are your thoughts okay whatever works man just do it like Nike

[00:15:50] says you know if your kids always on their phone then put the Bible memory app on their phone and let them do that

[00:15:56] for part of the time you know if you’re a book person then go with the book but just because you have so many copies at

[00:16:03] home in every translation Under the Sun on your device that doesn’t negate the fact that you should hide it in your

[00:16:09] heart so you don’t sin against him the the blessings the benefits the dividends

[00:16:15] that come from your life from hiding God’s word in your heart they are Limitless they really are

[00:16:22] so so um what are some of the main tips to memorizing scripture uh for the people

[00:16:29] that are really struggling with that uh what what advice would you give them uh to be able to memorize scripture

[00:16:35] well essentially there’s three different ways to go about it and there’s variants and hybrids but number one is memorized

[00:16:41] by reading the keys are the following number one you have to read aloud nobody in the west reads aloud generally

[00:16:48] speaking interesting in in private at home we don’t read aloud we don’t we

[00:16:55] just don’t we don’t read your text aloud you don’t read your novel all around you don’t read the Bible aloud in the

[00:17:01] morning when you’re in public it’s forbidden to read aloud so we just we’re accustomed to not reading aloud but not

[00:17:08] that they have everything figured out in the Middle East because they don’t but they have that figured out okay they

[00:17:15] they get it you walk by any past any quranic school any bet stuff or any Hebrew school and talk talk it’s all

[00:17:22] allowed wow so not only reading aloud but the the power of format the the way

[00:17:27] that the text is in other words don’t go switching translations on your kids 10 times okay I’ve had the same Bible for

[00:17:34] whatever 30 years I purchased it half a dozen times because it gets lost so the pages are tattered or something what

[00:17:39] versions I I am not King James only okay let me say that again I am not King James only

[00:17:45] I prefer King James Revelations new King James everything else is King James but

[00:17:51] I have the same Bible so I know where quote unquote everything is and you know where Revelation 12 is or John 3 is or

[00:17:57] Jonah one is in your old that is huge when it comes to memorization um when I would visit in Jerusalem I’d

[00:18:03] wander around and get lost and stuff and I ran into this um Yeshiva which is like a seminary

[00:18:09] Jewish Seminary and and they I didn’t know this but it’s

[00:18:14] obvious now that every single talmud in the entire world the talmud is basically like an Encyclopedia Britannica size

[00:18:21] collection of Jewish laws it’s the bread and butter for Judaism yeah anywho if you the point is if you go from here to

[00:18:28] the end of the world it doesn’t matter who the publisher is and you buy a talmud every single page is exactly the

[00:18:33] same it’s because the power of format so they get it

[00:18:38] it’s huge and that’s why I don’t recommend reading the Bible off your phone I don’t recommend you know reading

[00:18:45] it I did the hard book bound codex so you know where everything is on every

[00:18:50] page that’s number one did you want to say anything I really like that I no I’m just I’m

[00:18:55] taking metal notes because you know I teach a Bible class I teach Bible Bible to uh to seniors and I’m just thinking

[00:19:01] through you know our processes in our Bible Department out here in uh San Diego and um I just think that makes a

[00:19:08] lot of sense we were just having this discussion among a few people that um the kids all have Bible different

[00:19:15] versions on their phones they’re all reciting in different versions and so

[00:19:22] um and so it makes a lot of sense what you’re saying um that that kind of keeping it in format and keeping the

[00:19:28] proper context and I use other translations when I’m studying I’m just talking about your daily Bible okay yeah

[00:19:35] your go-to so that’s number one number two is memorization by hearing let me explain a

[00:19:40] little bit originally keyword originally the Bible is meant more for the ears and

[00:19:46] the eyes it’s been flipped since after the Advent of the printing press faith comes by

[00:19:51] hearing and hearing by the word of God yeah be doers of the word not hears but here’s only yeah exactly there

[00:19:57] there’s numerous verses that have to do with that with the morality of scripture first Thessalonians five here’s How It

[00:20:03] Ends I charge you which is very strong language it’s like a command kind of I charge you by the Lord that this epistle

[00:20:09] be read aloud onto all the holy brethren because they didn’t have that they

[00:20:14] didn’t they didn’t have numerous they didn’t have Bibles everywhere they didn’t have the Gideons right so they didn’t have pet abuse PowerPoint hand

[00:20:21] sanitizer around every corner orange mocha Frappuccinos to sip on in the last row yeah this is like hot Dusty bloody

[00:20:27] and persecuted and illegal yeah anywho but it’s really meant more for

[00:20:32] the ears than the eyes it really is so yeah I would recommend

[00:20:38] um I have a friend for example in Indiana who drives from Fort Wayne to Muncie every day and back two hour drive

[00:20:43] in the car and he listened to a chapter of Romans over and over and over and over again well you know where this is

[00:20:49] going a year and a half later Roy has the entire book of Romans memorized Rory is not the type of person who will stand

[00:20:54] up front on a Sunday morning like I do which is a different gifting to a certain degree and speak it from heart

[00:21:02] that’s not why we do it anyways we do it so we could have it hidden in our heart so we don’t sin against him we have it

[00:21:07] in there so it dwells richly in US but just from sitting in the car and

[00:21:13] hearing it I compared to reading Mozart’s hearing Mozart like you could read Mozart on the page all the day long

[00:21:19] and say to yourself I’ll bet you that sounds really amazing you know but then when someone who knows who hasn’t

[00:21:25] memorized who knows what they’re doing who believes in it who could do it with their eyes closed plays it it just takes

[00:21:31] on like a totally different dimension it’s the same thing but it’s kind of sort of not and the Bible is not meant to be boring

[00:21:38] okay look at the book of In Jonah look at how many different voices you have narrator Yahweh Jonah Captain

[00:21:46] Mariners king of Nineveh et cetera I mean you have all these different personalities and voices going on and

[00:21:51] it’s not flat and boring it’s like Mozart it’s up down up so listen to it

[00:21:56] and along those lines then I’ll let you jump in I have kids like I told you four kids ten to five the best way they

[00:22:04] memorize and the best way for those tuning in or can have their kids or grandkids memorized is by hearing it

[00:22:11] um you know not everyone can do what I could can do just like I can’t do it you can do it when my kids go to bed at

[00:22:16] night you know I’ll tell them a couple chapters from memory and we’ll dramatically act it out and get into it and have fun with it and make it that’s

[00:22:22] awesome you know yeah but you can press and I do the same thing when we’re done we just press play and you can do that

[00:22:27] you can press play on the iPad or whatever when they’re in their rooms and let the word of God wash over them when

[00:22:33] they go to sleep they will memorize it do not doubt me and you’ll have tremendous content fodder to talk about

[00:22:40] at breakfast the next day you know I love it anything on that one well I just

[00:22:47] brought to mind also that um I don’t teach ninth grade Bible anymore but we would go through all the narrative

[00:22:53] portions of scripture and a lot of times in class we would play the um the narrated version of scripture where they

[00:22:59] have the different voices like you were saying and uh it’s been quite a while since I’ve done that and I just it it

[00:23:04] definitely um and I have them read a lot aloud in their Bibles with the narration that was going on and everything and so

[00:23:12] um it just does it just really brings the Bible to life to hear the different voices like you said I’m sorry it’s

[00:23:18] already alive oh so that’s right it’s already left you threw me off there I was like wait yeah

[00:23:24] we’re live okay so yeah no it’s it’s already a lie but what it does is it um

[00:23:29] I think like you said listen to the voices and so what it does is it helps you to listen to those voices and make

[00:23:36] the separations see what’s actually happening it takes all the monotone away like you’re saying so that’s true and

[00:23:42] it’s very engaging you know it’s very engaging just to hear you know the Book of Revelation from memory or Genesis 1

[00:23:49] to 11 from memory I mean yeah there’s nothing like the spoken word of God and then third and finally memorize

[00:23:55] Union kids and grandkids can go about this by writing it so we had first we had reading second we had hearing third

[00:24:01] reading or writing I should say let me explain a little bit uh it ties in with the memorization Study Bible a little

[00:24:07] bit so I write out each verse old-fashioned pen and paper and just

[00:24:12] write the verse out over and over and over and over say it when you write it your mind your eye your hand your mouth

[00:24:19] your ear then all work together in unison and I don’t know how many more members you can you can use than that

[00:24:26] but whether you write it or whether you read it or whether you hear it and we can talk about this if you want

[00:24:31] we want to retain it we want it to abide in us to have it hidden in our heart and

[00:24:38] that’s a whole different subject interesting not not in one ear and out the other

[00:24:44] um I wanna I I do want to explore that a little further with you um so

[00:24:49] you know when somebody’s decided to start and they’re inspired they they see what you’re doing and they’re like wow

[00:24:55] yeah I can I I am persuaded um I really need to make this a bigger focus in my life

[00:25:00] um do you have any recommendations as far as okay here’s where I think you should start to should they do like you and start start in Genesis should or is

[00:25:09] there another Focus that they should have or is it just is It Wide Open what do you well we’re all we’re all wired

[00:25:14] differently as you know I didn’t even start in Genesis I started out in the Minor Prophets and and Joel

[00:25:20] of all places because we’re all wired differently I’m more of like and you

[00:25:26] know the the end is nigh this is it apocalypse kind of literature that’s my

[00:25:32] at first I should say I’ve grown out of that not that I should or shouldn’t have but I grew out right but that was like

[00:25:39] where I started and just apocalyptic literature yeah and then I moved on from

[00:25:44] there to narratives and I even did the song of songs which is Solomon so I’m you know well versed but

[00:25:50] you know I would rock if people don’t know where to start I would recommend number one do not do individual verses

[00:25:56] necessarily like individual versus scattered abroad I would I would recommend more to do like a Psalm a

[00:26:03] chapter and maybe if you did Jonah or Titus for example either one of those you could do the whole if you did one

[00:26:09] verse a week which you could totally do if you wanted like we said what if I give you a hundred dollars for a reverse you memorizes you do you think you would

[00:26:15] get right a little busy of course you were but what is that about what is that filthy looker compared to the oracles

[00:26:20] that which is more precious than rubies there’s no comparison whatsoever but we don’t act like that yeah we just don’t

[00:26:27] but if you just did Jonah for example or Titus one verse a week the whole year book done

[00:26:34] okay wait I’m sorry say that last part again if you just did one verse a week

[00:26:39] from Jonah or Titus you could do a whole book in a year okay the complete per week so 52 52

[00:26:46] courses yeah okay Christmas time you could have the whole book of Jonah memorized

[00:26:51] that’s cool you could have two or three or four Psalms memorized and you do that year after year after year and keep it

[00:26:57] or retain it which is the hard part in a different story right you look back five ten years from

[00:27:03] now if we’re still hearing he hasn’t taken us you know you have like a ton hidden in

[00:27:10] your heart and that’s good stuff it is and so um you said you know I don’t

[00:27:15] recommend uh you know picking a verse here a verse there you know whatever the case

[00:27:20] um what what is is this because you want people to get the idea because scripture was make meant to be taken in the

[00:27:27] context of the entire you know book not in uh not a reverse Cherry Picked here

[00:27:33] and there is that what’s your thought process beyond that yeah that’s part of it Kevin but also part of it is I want

[00:27:38] people to I want to replicate myself I want to make walking talking little

[00:27:43] books or walking talking big bucks and look we live in a time in the church

[00:27:49] where the orality of scripture has been shattered we don’t you don’t even hear we don’t even hear the word of God I

[00:27:55] mean we read it we don’t read it aloud we don’t hear the voice throughout the course of the week when we go to church on Sunday we sing about him maybe if

[00:28:02] you’re lucky they’ll do a reading from a Psalm or something like that and then we have verse by verse by verse teaching

[00:28:08] and preaching which is all great exegetical preaching teaching I know who you’re talking to but we don’t hear

[00:28:13] God’s voice you just hear a verse and then have it interpreted and applied which is awesome

[00:28:19] but some you know we just need to hear his voice and the people more often than

[00:28:24] not are smart enough to to get it to discern it from themselves to interpret it for themselves when you when you

[00:28:30] speak an epistle for example to them yeah it’s not real confusing right it’s not it’s not written in some obscure

[00:28:37] language or or uh you know it’s perspicuous yeah exactly yeah so so

[00:28:43] um have you ever thought about becoming a a preacher a pastor I’m an ordained minister have you ever

[00:28:49] thought about starting a church and doing doing like uh you know going through it like that

[00:28:55] well the short answer is yes but I have to wait until I’m 50.

[00:29:02] so I have a 164 Sundays left I think until I’m 15. and so I’m going to use my

[00:29:10] I have a unique gift and I need to use that gift and not hide it under a bushel but

[00:29:17] there’s going to come a point because I’m in a different church every Sunday yeah but there will come a point in time

[00:29:22] in about three and a half years or three years from now when my kids need to be

[00:29:27] as teenagers especially in the same church every Sunday not yeah in Iowa

[00:29:33] this week in Florida next week in New York the following and when it comes to

[00:29:38] that point in time I’ve been seriously praying about that when I’m 50 that I’ll retire as the Bible memory man and then

[00:29:44] I already have my Timothy his name is Timothy by the way he’s one of the people who told the whole new testament with from memory with me and we’ll see

[00:29:51] what God does but I think that’s a good possibility maybe where I live near the Creation Museum and the Ark encounter

[00:29:57] maybe in the years to come maybe it’s just plant a church but it wouldn’t be your usual at church I’ll tell you that

[00:30:02] right now not only because I have a double masters from Jerusalem and an emphasis on archeology and Etc but the

[00:30:08] church service would be the sermon the 45 minute sermon half of it would be just the Oracles of God yeah and then

[00:30:14] the other half some teaching an application that that’d be so cool yeah and I think

[00:30:20] that’d be such a a great example to so many pastors to you know to get back to

[00:30:26] emphasizing scripture and and making that more of the Focus right that’s just it because my best friends in the world

[00:30:31] are pastors yeah and it’s not a knock on their character in any way shape or form but they don’t know their eyes they’ll

[00:30:36] be the first to tell you if they’re honest my best friends are professors okay and it’s not a knock on their character

[00:30:42] they love the Lord with their whole heart but they don’t they’re not actively memorizing so if the professors

[00:30:47] aren’t doing it and the pastors don’t do it and the parents don’t do it Nobody Does it and it gets pushed off on the five-year-olds in Awana yeah

[00:30:57] Awana leadership on and uh just because it’s so stunning the amount of uh scripture that they memorize um and all

[00:31:03] they do and I just thought it was very very cool but yet the Bible says this is how we’re transformed right be

[00:31:09] transformed by their knowing of your mind and so and yet uh like you said

[00:31:14] we’re missing a lot of times we’re missing that there’s just such a lack of focus on that um so I really appreciate we are making

[00:31:21] hudway against that we really are we’re tripping away at it by a different church every Sunday and our

[00:31:28] resources and last summer I was awesome I was able to volunteer speak at the Creation Museum 70 times got to speak to

[00:31:34] people from all over the states and Inspire them and to instruct them to hide God’s word in their hearts so they can go home and do the same so there are

[00:31:41] a few of us out there amongst you for trying to inspire you to memorize

[00:31:49] not just individual verses here and there but a whole book yeah so for those of you listening my

[00:31:55] guest is the Bible memory man you can um his name is Tom Meyer and you can visit him at thebiblememoryman.com check

[00:32:02] out his memorization Study Bible it’s a great uh way to to do that and to to begin memorizing and hiding God’s word

[00:32:09] in your heart personally um and then um Tom can you repeat just summarize again I’m sorry those three

[00:32:15] tips you gave for scripture memorization and I hope we can talk about how to retain it but yeah we’re gonna do that

[00:32:21] right next yeah number one is by reading aloud and not only reading it aloud but staring at the page because of the power

[00:32:27] of format number two is through hearing okay redeem the time in the car and turn

[00:32:34] off whatever you’re listening to and just listen over and over again to First

[00:32:39] Peter chapter one until you get it or whatever then the third is to write it out that’s how I happen to do it’s help

[00:32:45] me memorize 20 bucks it’s hard it’s difficult I do have a life I have full-time Ministry and I’m married with

[00:32:51] four kids under 10 but it’s a priority to me because I know how important it is

[00:32:56] to God and how important is to my spiritual life to have God’s word hidden in my heart

[00:33:01] okay let’s talk about the retaining part here um obviously that it’s useless if it’s

[00:33:07] if it’s just in and out and then it’s not useless yeah okay the the talmud the

[00:33:12] talmud says not that I’m a fan of the talmud but they say it’s like bringing a dirty like bringing a dirty basket down

[00:33:19] to the river and then washing it in the river and even though it all just goes right through it still has cleaned the

[00:33:25] inside so it does there is an advantage but you’re right the goal is to have

[00:33:31] like first John 214 to have it abide in US hmm the question is how do you do

[00:33:36] that yeah well to make a long story short it is hard work it is repetition it is review it is what the Bible calls

[00:33:43] meditation first John or not first John Joshua 1 8 this book of the law the Bible shall not

[00:33:50] depart out of your mouth or in Hebrew it should literally rest on your lips and you shall meditate on it day and night

[00:33:56] exactly but what does meditate mean exactly yeah exactly but what does

[00:34:01] meditate we don’t even know what meditate we think of what they do in yeah

[00:34:06] exactly but the idea there is remember Josh was talking to a semi-nomadic sheep

[00:34:12] goat Shepherd farmer kind of people okay an agrarian people and the the paint the

[00:34:17] picture it’s of a beast chewing straw no hey whatever exactly then swallowing

[00:34:24] it then regurgitating it thinking upon it swallowing it again so the idea of calling up think upon true upon it put

[00:34:30] it back call it up think upon it chew upon it put it back that’s what it means to meditate it means to repeat it means

[00:34:35] to review it means to Maul over how does that look in your daily life it looks

[00:34:40] something like this whenever you have down time which I know some of us don’t have a lot of but some of us do have

[00:34:46] some down time not always but a lot a lot of people spend a lot of their down time on uh you know going through social

[00:34:53] media nowadays so it’s true we have more we have more time than we think it’s true but the way it looks Kevin is just

[00:35:01] to repeat to yourself what you know from memory in order from Janus choose Genesis to Revelation as much as is

[00:35:07] possible throughout the course of the day if you can do that if you could repeat those verses to you it keeps them

[00:35:14] sharp it keeps them from being not from not getting rusty it keeps them right

[00:35:19] there on your lips on on your tongue on your front lungs and they’re ready to implement and to use in any situation

[00:35:25] that may came up but it that takes work and you know I I highly doubt if you

[00:35:33] walked up to a average believer and you said can you tell me right now what chapter you’re meditating on they’d be

[00:35:39] like excuse me oh yeah like what are you talking about no but but I’m In Jonah chapter three so

[00:35:45] whenever I get down time and the word of the Lord here I’m I’m in line at that fine French store Tarjay or Walmart or

[00:35:52] something and I’m just thinking to myself well I’m in line and the word of the Lord came on to Jonah the second time saying arise going through Nineveh

[00:35:58] that great City and preach and cry against it for their wickedness oh I’m

[00:36:03] sorry that’s chapter one and preach on to it the preaching that I bid thee so Jonah Rosen went on to Nineveh according

[00:36:09] to the word of the Lord that’s where you’re at that’s where your head’s at you’re setting your affection your mind

[00:36:14] your heart on things above not on things of the earth your focus on the words of

[00:36:19] God and then applying those to of course your daily life hmm that’s fantastic I love it

[00:36:26] and so when you say um that we want to retain that and uh so

[00:36:34] the difference between you know the basket that’s washed and the basket that retains

[00:36:39] um how does this in in how does this flesh out practically what is the difference between the person that just

[00:36:45] went through the washing and the person that actually was retaining that um here’s how it looks in my house

[00:36:51] because they’ve retained it they they know they know that it says Be Kind one

[00:36:57] to another tenderhearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ that hath forgiven you whereas if you don’t you

[00:37:03] don’t you don’t know those words you may have a concept of the idea

[00:37:10] but it’s not the word of God I know the concepts based in the word of God but to

[00:37:15] know the exact word the verbiage right that’s what we’re going for that’s the

[00:37:21] retention and and or you know how it could look a million different ways a soft answer turns away Wrath

[00:37:29] yeah I’m not going to say what I want to say that’s how it plays out in Daily Life yeah and that’s the that’s the amazing

[00:37:36] thing about scripture is that it was funny I had a student a couple years ago we I have the students memorize all

[00:37:42] these different scriptures and you’re making me rethink a few things as I’m as we’re talking but I I have them

[00:37:48] specifically pick out verses that are relevant to them so that they can go they can see how the word of God applies

[00:37:54] to their regular lives so that they go whoa this is this is not some ancient book written 2000 years ago that no

[00:38:00] longer applies to my life this is the word of God that is living and active and is useful for all that you know my

[00:38:07] life and so this kid goes he goes the word of God has something to say about everything he goes everything I

[00:38:14] look up there’s something on it in the word of God that God says about this subject matter and that for me that was

[00:38:19] just like so heartening I was like yes you get it right this is It’s life-changing it it changes everything

[00:38:26] and uh it makes you into a totally different person because yeah you respond totally different to

[00:38:32] your life situations everything is now sifted through that grid of God’s perspective but if we that’s true but if

[00:38:39] we don’t have the word of God hidden in our heart what are what is that grid we’re sifting it through is it just bits

[00:38:45] and pieces what you think you may have learned at church on Sunday over years or is that grid

[00:38:53] Matthew five six and seven yeah I I it’s it’s funny too because I’ve had so many

[00:38:59] situations where somebody’s come up to me and said the Bible says this and I go where does it say that and they’re like

[00:39:06] well I don’t know I’m just pretty sure it says that and I said I don’t know you better go back and and and try to find

[00:39:11] that and that’s one of the benefits that come from memorizing is it makes you a Berean that makes you a better student

[00:39:17] you know you know when someone yeah right is off track you got it yeah you

[00:39:23] can call that on and say whoa whoa that’s not the character of God where are you getting that from and so that’s

[00:39:30] just that’s just encouraging um well uh again for those of you listening my guest is Tom Meyer he’s the

[00:39:36] Bible memory man and um you know uh the Bible memoryman.com if you’d like to

[00:39:41] have him come speak um I am absolutely sure that you would be blown away by I’m actually going to

[00:39:48] approach our Chapel leadership and see if I can get you to come speak at our school I think that’d be so cool

[00:39:53] um but uh tell us real quick what is the great recital behind you the the poster you have behind there you know

[00:39:59] um to make a long story short um I wanted to do something

[00:40:05] special something very unique for the glory of God so I said okay I’m going to take all of the contacts that I’ve made

[00:40:11] the last 20 years reciting scripture every Sunday at a different church and I’m going to try and find a team to tell

[00:40:18] the whole new testament from memory word for word wow well easier said than done yeah I

[00:40:25] put this team together this a team together and by the way they’re just normal people yeah okay they’re just

[00:40:30] normal people who you wouldn’t pick them out of a crowd but they just love the Lord so much that

[00:40:36] they that they and they value and they treasure his word so much that they hide it in their heart but I needed someone

[00:40:42] to do Matthew and acts like how am I going to find someone who knows the gospel of Matthew from memory that’s like wow okay and then lo and behold

[00:40:50] praise the Lord I got a piece of whatever fan mail or whatever and it was a retired school teacher in Kokomo

[00:40:56] Indiana who he’s like I have the Book of Matthew memorized if you ever need me and I was just like praise the Lord

[00:41:01] you’re working through this Lord God and then I found someone to do acts as well so there were seven of us we did the

[00:41:07] whole thing from heart I’m pretty sure that it’s the first time it’s ever happened at least I have looked through

[00:41:14] all of the councils not all of them but many of the councils and and events and

[00:41:20] I’ve never found where the whole new testament was recited of course they read it aloud and you see those even to

[00:41:26] this day right people will read the Bible out of the church and take a turn but but this is reciting it from heart

[00:41:31] so God really blessed it and we’re really really proud of what he did for his glory yeah that is really cool

[00:41:38] um you know I was doing a little bit of research I was reading up and it said um I was looking to see if there’s anybody that’s memorized the whole Bible uh and

[00:41:45] the only person that popped up was Noah Webster but I didn’t it said that they couldn’t prove that he actually did it

[00:41:50] or did not do it um do you know of anybody that’s that’s done that I I’ve heard of someone I’m

[00:41:56] not going to say their name because I don’t believe that she did it but oh okay like how can you have the whole new

[00:42:02] testament memorized word for word and maybe over the course of your life that

[00:42:08] you were able to do that okay but you do but not you can retain it yeah there’s

[00:42:13] no way you can retain 27 in for example in the Hebrew Bible the original

[00:42:18] autographs the Hebrew Bible was meant to memorize it’s full of memory tips and mnemonics and helps and puns and word

[00:42:24] plays and acrostics and all those kind of things to do that but you lose all those those helps in English they’re

[00:42:31] gone and so I I just don’t like it people say that because it makes it like that I don’t like it when they say I

[00:42:37] have the whole new testament from because they don’t number one and number two it makes it so like rare air and so

[00:42:45] like I can’t do it I can’t memorize and yeah yes you can you can hide God’s word

[00:42:50] in your heart that’s great that’s great well um Tom I really appreciate your time and

[00:42:57] and being on the program and I love what you’re doing and uh I really am going to talk to our Chapel Department see if I

[00:43:03] can do you ever speak at like Christian high schools or uh for sure yeah okay because because we have a bunch of

[00:43:09] speakers that come out for our chapels and and uh all different and I think that’d just be such a wonderful Focus so

[00:43:15] um thank you so much for what you’re doing and I’ll be praying for you uh over the next three years and what uh what happens and yeah we’ll talk later

[00:43:22] maybe and see what happens yeah looking forward to seeing your uh what you do

[00:43:27] what are your what are your thoughts this just popped in my head um what are your thoughts and maybe this

[00:43:33] might be a you never know what’s a controversial question but um you know Calvary Chapel with Chuck

[00:43:39] Smith the movie just came out um Jesus Revolution and he had a big emphasis on word for word Through the Bible

[00:43:46] um what are your thoughts about that as far as uh do you have any opinions in

[00:43:51] regards to you know preaching on Sundays as far as going word for word Through the Bible or uh what what do you think

[00:43:58] I’m not your average Pastor yeah I’m

[00:44:04] whatever words you want to use and so you know not that I’ll be doing this forever but when I come on Sunday it’s

[00:44:11] the whole book of Revelation from memory or it’s first drawn from memory and how to memorize or I’m pretty laser focused

[00:44:18] on like you know not idea exactly like this is why I’m here

[00:44:26] I’m just a guest this is just for today you know but I want you to be in spot

[00:44:31] that’s the key that’s the number one word I get Kevin when I’m done with a presentation like you inspired me and

[00:44:36] that’s what it’s all about to inspire those listening to high God’s word in their hearts so they don’t sin against

[00:44:42] him yeah and I love that too because um it’s just like kind of like what

[00:44:47] you’re emphasizing here is letting God speak for himself and uh exactly and

[00:44:52] that’s another thing that like us we had touched on at the get-go it’s like church should not be boring

[00:44:58] church should be engaging church should be dynamic church should be the highlight of your week you you want to

[00:45:04] hear from God and there’s no better way to hear from God than to hear his word and I know we

[00:45:10] need like we said earlier verse 5 verse teaching and preaching and application exegetical sermons and all those kinds I get it but you know what maybe once a

[00:45:17] month or once every now and then we should just have someone like me come and just it’s like Paul is your guest

[00:45:23] speaker or Moses or John’s your guest speaker in the 21st century yeah and

[00:45:29] she’s boom I love it I love it I think that’s a great way to end the program today

[00:45:35] um thank you so much Tom uh for what you’re doing and much needed and um you

[00:45:40] guys uh again that’s the Bible memoryman.com please please uh take some time to check out what he has the

[00:45:46] memorization Study Bible other resources that he’s provided and then of course you can take him up on the opportunity

[00:45:52] to have him come share I mean you’re not going to find um something as amazing and unique as this uh anywhere really

[00:45:59] honestly so um check that out uh we do have coming up not too far down the road here Jason

[00:46:05] Lyle is going to be with us talk talking about the James Webb Telescope and uh that incredible evidence that again

[00:46:12] supports the truth of God’s word and creation so thanks for being here looking forward to being with you

[00:46:18] another time in the future till then have a great day and God bless you when you need tires or service count on

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[00:47:56] president of Team Home Loans a branch of synergy One Lending I just want to take this opportunity to thank Kevin Conover

[00:48:02] for the profound impact he’s had on mine and my wife’s spiritual life as well as being an incredible teacher while our

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